Details
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph endorsement signed ("A.Lincoln") as President, [Washington, D.C.], 20 February 1864. 1 page, 24mo, seven lines plus signature and dateline, apparently clipped from a larger sheet, bottom margin cropped close to dateline. Fine.
AN ABSENT-MINDED PRESIDENT
Lincoln writes: "I forget what it is that I am to do in this case. Will not the same trouble (incurable by me) arise, about the oath as in Col[onel] Edwards' case?..." Published in Basler, Supplement XI:90.
The Colonel Edwards referred to in this intriguing note was probably Mary Lincoln's Springfield brother-in-law, Ninian Wirt Edwards (1809-1889), at whose home Lincoln and Mary first met and where they were later married. In August 1861, Lincoln appointed Edwards a Captain and Commissary of Subsistence, but when charges of dishonest practices became widespread, Lincoln removed him from office. In the meantime, Mrs. Edwards moved into the White House to console Mary after the death of Willie.
AN ABSENT-MINDED PRESIDENT
Lincoln writes: "I forget what it is that I am to do in this case. Will not the same trouble (incurable by me) arise, about the oath as in Col[onel] Edwards' case?..." Published in Basler, Supplement XI:90.
The Colonel Edwards referred to in this intriguing note was probably Mary Lincoln's Springfield brother-in-law, Ninian Wirt Edwards (1809-1889), at whose home Lincoln and Mary first met and where they were later married. In August 1861, Lincoln appointed Edwards a Captain and Commissary of Subsistence, but when charges of dishonest practices became widespread, Lincoln removed him from office. In the meantime, Mrs. Edwards moved into the White House to console Mary after the death of Willie.